Merchants offer coupons or rebates as incentives for purchasing particular products. Traditionally, coupons are distributed in a paper format. A user redeems the coupon by taking the physical coupon to a merchant and purchasing a product that satisfies the terms of the coupon. Other forms of traditional coupons include rebates for purchasing particular products, wherein after purchasing a product that satisfies the terms of the rebate offer, the user fills out and returns required forms to request the rebate.
More recently, merchants have offered electronic offers. Such offers may be linked to merchant loyalty cards, wherein a user enrolls in a merchant's loyalty program and receives a loyalty card. A user then associates certain discounts to the loyalty card and redeems these discounts by presenting the loyalty card (or some form of identifying information, such as a telephone number) and the method of payment to the merchant when purchasing the discounted products. Alternatively, coupons and offers are distributed through electronic media, forums, and social networks.
With the advent of online marketplaces and shopping applications for smart devices, users can copy/paste, click a link, or otherwise manually enter offer codes when completing a transaction with a merchant to receive a discount associated with the code. The user is required to search for codes that apply to the merchant and/or the items in the user's shopping basket.